Director

 

One doesn’t just wake up and decide to become passionate about childhood language disorders. For most, it takes a combination of knowing someone who has struggled to learn language and experiencing the scientific process of language research under the guidance of a mentor. When I was six, my brother Jason was born with severe disorders in speech, language, hearing, cognition, and motor functioning. As the funniest person in my family, he taught us daily the importance of language and the many ways one can “do language.” 

As an undergraduate, I also was extremely lucky to complete a research project with a middle schooler, and with further study in graduate school and a wonderful mentor and PhD student peer group, I soon knew that my career was going to involve programmatic language research. I hope the lab fosters research and service projects that improve the lives of children. I also hope that through the lab, students will receive the same types of research training experiences that led me to my chosen field of study. 

If you are interested in working in the lab, please browse the D4 Child Language Lab web site to learn more about our work. Middle school and high school students and members of the community are also free to visit the lab at any time. -- Janna Oetting, Director